Chaos, God of Destruction, stared at the Echidna in front of him. If he had
a mouth to do so with, he would have grinned. "This time, you will all
die!" He said.
Chaos reached out a hand and two Chaos Emeralds flew to him.
Chaos stared at the Echidna as he raised his hands and the two Chaos Emeralds begun to float just above his palms. The God of Destruction roared as the power of the two Chaos Emeralds was absorbed into his system. The emeralds sparked to life and began to glow brighter than before. Then, as Chaos drained them of there power, they began to shrink until there was nothing left.
Chaos threw his head back as the new energy flowed into him, lifting him off the ground. He clenched his hands into tight fists and roared once again.
He begun to grin as he fell back to the ground. The power was incredible. He could've never imagined that it would make him this strong. He understood now. He understood why the Drakon had turned on him when he had transformed him into his spawn.
With power like this there was nothing that you could not do. With power like this you could rule the universe.
Chaos turned and stared at the remaining Chaos Emeralds greedily. They were on the floor, scattered and damaged. He had to absorb them before their power was lost to him. He wanted all the power of the Chaos Emeralds for himself.
Chaos turned to the nearest Chaos Emerald, in order to absorb it, but was suddenly consumed by pain. He began to glow a bright blue, as the true power of the Chaos Emeralds kicked in. His transformation was far from over.
Pochamac stepped back as he watched the God of Destruction begin to grow. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew that the end result wasn't going to be pleasant.
Chaos once again threw his head back, but this time he screamed in agony. He raised his hands and clenched his head as he was engulfed by agonizing pain.
Then, suddenly, he was hoisted into the air, as he screamed in pain. Energy then exploded out of him in an expanding circle of destruction.
The Echidna were thrown backwards as the chaos energy erupted out of Chaos, tearing through Emerald Chamber's floor, and proceeded right on towards the Chaos Emeralds.
Chaos opened his eyes, as the power of the two Chaos Emeralds suddenly settled within him. He then laughed as he had increased in size. He became broader. Stronger. More powerful than before.
There was and implode of sound as all the raw Chaos Energy was sucked back towards the God of Destruction as he opened his new mouth and breathed it in.
* * * *
Prince Brightstarr turned to see Echidna cheering all around him. After the blast had taken out most of the Drakon Army they had quickly taken the upper hand.
The Dragon's still buzzed about the skies, but even some of them had been taken down by the Echidna. Dragon-slaying was something all Echidna were taught from birth. The rest of the Dragon's were just circling in the air as if they were unsure on what to do next.
Brightstarr suddenly looked up towards the sky. He could sense something. Something other than what was going on here on the battlefield. It was far off, but it ringed in his head like bells. And it was evil.
Whatever it was it would have to wait as there was a shout from behind him. He turned to see what the Echidna were shouting about and sighed as he saw more Drakon.
"Give me a break." Brightstarr muttered. "They just keep coming."
"That would be thanks to the Mobius Ring." Imarac said, coming up beside him. "We've got to destroy it."
Brightstarr nodded in response as he looked around at the fallen Drakon.
"Destruction of the Mobius Ring would cause a fatal energy discharge." Came the robotic voice of Guardian as he piloted Robot over towards the Prince.
"Fatal?" Brightstarr said.
"Affirmative." Robot said.
"Just how fatal, Guardian?" Imarac asked.
"The destruction of the Mobius Ring would in turn cause a chain reaction as it's dimensional doorway is broken." Guardian said. "With its link to Mobius severed the Mobius Ring would either implode, causing all within a radius of half a mile to be sucked into non-existence. Or explode outwards destroying everything around with blast of epic proportions."
Brightstarr sighed. "Sounds like fun." He said weakly. "I'll take out the Mobius Ring. You guys cover me."
"But Brightstarr-?" Imarac begun.
"Imarac, I know what your going to say." He said, glancing sidelong at him. "But it will not hinder my discussion. The Mobius Ring must be eliminated, and I'm the only one here who can do it."
"And do you know what I'm going to say as well, Brightstarr?" Came a voice from behind.
Brightstarr recognized the voice immediately. He slowly turned to the cat known as Mau-Evig, who was also his closet friend.
"You can't do this." She said. "You're die, and the Echidna Empire can't loose you."
"It's how it has to be, Mau." He replied simply.
Mau opened her mouth to argue but stopped as she stared behind Brightstarr. Her eyes widened as she stepped back. "D - Dra - Dragon!" She shouted.
Brightstarr turned to see a Dragon flapping its huge wings as it hovered above the ground for a while. Its body was enormous, bigger than a dinosaurs, and must've weighed more than 30 tons. It stared at the Echidna as it extended its legs and slowly flapped downwards. Landing with a thud.
Dragon's were probably the most powerful creatures on Mobius, beaten only by the Tantaragor. But whereas the Tantaragor had harnessed their many different powerful energies they had found, the Dragon's used magic.
It was magic that allowed them to fly as they did. Nothing in existence could possibly get airborne trying to carry that much weight, not with those wings even though they were huge enough.
Magic was what powered Dragon's. It was used by them to do a multitude of different things. One such thing was allowing them the power of speech.
"Echidna!" It roared, but the words didn't come out of its mouth. They arrived straight inside the head without even using the ears.
Brightstarr looked upwards. The other Dragon's were still circling uncertainly, but the Dragon that was now standing in front of them didn't look at all uncertain on what it was doing.
It reared its head back, gurgled fire in its throat until some spewed out, then threw its head back forward, blowing forth a stream of fire directly at the Echidna.
* * * *
Chaos walked across the Emerald Chamber to the Grey Chaos Emerald which finding it still intact, though a little cracked, on the floor. Bending forwards, he picked it up, returning to his new height as he straightened back up.
Chaos was taller now, thanks to the power of the Chaos Emeralds he had absorbed. He stood so tall he almost touched the Emerald Chamber's ceiling with the top of his head. His arms and legs had also increased in width. They were more muscular now. He looked as though he could tear his way through an army. He also had a mouth now. It was long and rimmed with teeth, somewhat like the mouth of a crocodile.
He held the Grey Chaos Emerald in his open hand and stared at it. He then closed his hand tight and crunched it inside his closed fist. Instantly there was a jolt of power as he absorbed the emeralds Chaos Energy. He grew a little more in size and width, grinning to himself as he did so.
He hunched over, as he was now to tall to do anything else, and stared around the room. His eyes still glowed green, though they were now smaller than how they had been. He turned to look at the Echidna as they begun to stir.
He was about the attack when he heard a small, but evil, snarl from behind him. He turned to see the shattered remains of the Blue and the Orange Chaos Emeralds. But it wasn't the Emerald Shards that his eyes were drawn to.
Standing amongst the shards were two creatures. One was lizard like in appearance, and had orange scaly skin. As he met its eye it snarled up at him, and then puffed out a ball of fire.
The second creature was still sitting amongst the blue shards of its emerald. It looked as though it was made entirely of ice. As it stood up it placed a hand on the ground to help its balance. It then reared up, and as it did so its ice arm snapped off. Almost instantly a new ice arm grew in its place.
It was then that Chaos noticed the Purple Chaos Emerald lying beside the ice creature.
The God of Destruction smiled to himself. These creatures must've been trapped within the Chaos Emeralds just like how he had been stuck within the Master Emerald.
If they came from the Chaos Emeralds then they must at least have some of the power from the Emerald. So they were still of use to him.
He walked over to the fire creature and grabbed it in one hand. He held it up to his face and stared at it for a long time.
The creature tried to blow fire at him, but he squeezed it tighter before it could take a breath. He then opened his mouth and swallowed the creature whole.
Noticing the Yellow Emerald Shards still on the ground he hung his hand over them. And just as paper clips would rise if a magnet was held over them , so to did the Yellow Emerald Shards. They sunk into his hand as soon as they made contact, adding to his power.
He turned and looked at the Purple Chaos Emerald, bent forward and picked it up, crushing it in his hand just as he did to the Grey Emerald. As he grew a little more in size, he looked down on the ice creature, but it wasn't looking up at him. It was staring in front of it.
Chaos turned around to see that the Echidna had woken up.
"By the Gods!" Pochamac said, staring up at the awesome creature Chaos had become. "Chaos?"
"Bow to me, Echidna." The God of Destruction said, turning to fully to face the Echidna. "Bow to me now, proclaim me as your God, and I will spare you."
Pochamac held his spear a little tighter. By his side Yin stepped backwards, while Knuckles raised his fists ready to fight.
"You are no God, Chaos." Pochamac said. "You may claim to be one, but we know the truth. Your just a power hungry monster."
"You will not bow to me?" Chaos asked.
"Go to Hell." Knuckles said. "Is that clear enough for you?"
The God of Destruction stepped forwards. As he did so his hunched body scrapped along the ceiling. "Fools! Do you not see what I have become?"
Knuckles didn't respond, instead he charged at Chaos, ready to attack him. Launching himself into the air, Knuckles clenched a fist ready to punch the God of Destruction as hard as he could, but was suddenly grabbed by one of Chaos' big hands.
Chaos slammed Knuckles into the floor twice before tossing him behind him. He didn't even turn to watch Knuckles as he hit the floor with a thud.
Pochamac raised his hand up to Chaos, it begun to glow green. "You cannot win, Chaos. As I know your weakness."
With that the green sparks that were flickering all around the King's hand shot out in a powerful green beam, which hit Chaos square in the chest.
"Heat!" Pochamac muttered.
Yin Star Ophir smiled. "Of course. His body is made up of water, so naturally heat would harm him."
"Not harm him enough." Came the voice of Giser, as he came up beside them, dragging the still unconscious Midnight.
"Giser is right." Pochamac admitted, as Chaos screamed in pain. "This will only defeat him temporarily. But it will give us the time we need to access the situation."
Braven Rain raised his hands and also shot stream of fire at Chaos also. As his fire connected, Chaos reeled back in pain.
There was a sudden small bang as Chaos exploded into a cloud of steam. His scream's could still be heard as the steam swirled around, trying to regroup and regain its old form. But it couldn't as Pochamac continued to fire into it.
Then the cloud of steam suddenly rushed at Pochamac, taking him off his feet and dropping him just behind Giser. The steam continued on this trajectory and went out through the Zoom Tubes.
Giser turned and hissed. "Blast!" He said. "He's escaped into the Zoom Tubes. He could end up anywhere on the Island."
"We've got to warn the others." Braven said staring at the Zoom Tubes. "He could head for them."
"Why do you believe that he'll do that?" Giser asked.
"Because of my brother." Said Knuckles.
Giser and Yin turned to see Knuckles on his hands and knees. "Your brother?" Giser muttered.
"My brother is probably the strongest Echidna alive, Giser. You know this as much as me, and its thanks to the Chaos Energy that flows through his veins." Knuckles said, rubbing his head. "His power is probably calling out to Chaos like a beacon, just as the Chaos Emeralds did. He'll head for Brightstarr, and he'll attack everyone that gets in his way."
Yin's eyes widened, suddenly becoming urgent. "We have to try and help them." She said turning around. "We have to-! Oh my God!"
Tears begun to roll down Yin's face as she ran to Pochamac's side. Pochamac lay on the ground, where the steam form of Chaos had dropped him. But he had landed badly, on a sharp shard of rock that must have been ripped up when Chaos had transformed.
Yin kneeled down beside the injured King. "He's in pain." She said through the tears. "He's hurt bad, Giser."
Giser came over to see a thin piece of rock extending out of the Echidna King's side. He knelt down beside the old Echidna and assessed the damage.
"The wound is bad." He said. "This is going to hurt a little, your majesty." With that he reached behind Pochamac and snapped the rock just where it entered the King.
Pochamac coughed and gritted his teeth in pain. He opened his mouth to speak, but was hushed by Giser.
"Do not try to speak, Milord." Giser said, lifting the King up in his arms. Giser then looked at Yin. "I will take him back to the Palace and treat him there, Braven will accompany me. I want you-!"
"I'm coming to." Yin said, staring at Pochamac. "You'll need all the protection you can get and-!"
"No. You must stay here with Knuckles and rebuild the Master Emerald. All the shards are there, so it shouldn't prove to difficult." Giser said.
"But I-!" Yin begun.
"I will not tell you again." Giser said sternly. He then sighed as she begun to cry again. "The King will be okay. I will take care of him as best I can. Now do what I have asked of you, and then bring the Master Emerald to me in the Palace."
Yin nodded, as Giser stood looking at her.
"Braven." He said, turning around. "Bring Midnight." He then walked out of the Emerald Chamber and into the Zoom Tube system. Braven pulled the still unconscious Midnight over his shoulder and followed him out.
As Giser and Braven disappeared into the darkness Yin turned to Knuckles who had got up and was making his way over to them.
Yin raised a hand which begun to glow, then all the shards of the Master Emerald floated over to her. Blue shards also floated over. Yin grabbed one at random.
"These are not shards of the Master Emerald." Yin said.
"No. They are not." Knuckles said, grabbing one for himself. "It must have been another Chaos Emerald. Chaos must have destroyed it by accident, which means that he doesn't have the power of two Emeralds."
"If we rebuild these Emeralds, what's to say he won't come back for them?" Yin said, gazing at the Blue Chaos Emerald.
Knuckles sighed. "He can come, but hopefully we won't be here. Besides, my brother will keep him busy for a long time." He said, he then put another shard in place, holding it steady with his free hand.
Yin slipped some blue shards together and sighed. She couldn't help but think of Pochamac. As she rebuilt the Blue Chaos Emerald a silent tear rolled down her cheek.
Unseen to either of them, in the darkness of the Emerald Chamber, something watched them. Very slowly the ground around it begun to freeze as it tried to hide a little further in the shadows.
* * * *
The Echidna Army scattered, diving and dodging out of the way of the Dragon's fiery breath with ease, though some where a little seared by the heat.
Brightstarr stood next to Mau, who lowered her hand and her magical force field disappeared. Mau and Brightstarr just stared at the Dragon.
The Dragon made a sound deep in its throat and seemed to grin at them both. "Cats helping Echidna." Its voice arrived in their heads again. "Echidna helping Cats. It makes no difference, you will all die." The Dragon stepped forward, and opened its mouth to reveal its teeth. "I'll eat you both, and chew on your bones." It said.
"Not bloody likely." Imarac's said, as he walked up to Brightstarr's side. "Attack!" He shouted.
The Echidna charged at the Dragon, taking it completely by surprise. By the time it realized what was what it was swarmed by Echidna attacking it from every side.
The Echidna dodged the snapping of the Dragon, as Greyskull unsheathed his sword. The Echidna at the back of the Dragon stuck their spears into it, causing it to rear up in pain, exposing its belly.
In one clean slash, Greyskull brought his sword across the Dragon's neck.
Blood dropped to the floor as he sheathed his sword and the Dragon's disembodied head fell to the floor in front of him.
Brightstarr grinned at Greyskull, ignoring the squirms of Mau. Greyskull was grim, and maybe a bit over the top, but he was the best at what he did.
"Prince Brightstarr!" Shouted someone from the new arriving Drakon forces.
Brightstarr turned back to see who was talking, only to see that it was Zachary. Suddenly his eyes glowed red with anger. "Zachary!" He growled.
"I see you haven't forgotten me, Prince Brightstarr." Zachary said from within his Guardian Robot.
"You sold us out, Zachary." Imarac shouted. "Your own people."
Dr Zachary sighed. "I told you before, Imarac. I have no peop-!"
"Shut it, Zachary. Just shut it." Imarac said.
Zachary smiled. "Well, I'd love to chat all day but I am here to ask you if you will surrender now while you still have the chance."
"Surrender!" Greyskull said. "We outnumber your new fish-headed friends easily. If you continue this we will be the only ones walking away from here."
"You Echidna scum are very imaginative, I'll grant you that." Came a voice from the Drakon crowd. Very slowly the Drakon moved out of the way as another Drakon walked to the front and stared down on the Drakon. "It will be such a shame to kill you all. You'd make wonderful slaves." The Drakon said, grinning.
The Drakon was just a little bigger than the other Drakon, but looked nothing like the Prosecutors and the Sentinels. His robotic body, coated in a deep and rich chrome purple armor, was slender and masculine. It looked as though it could hold its own in a battle. He held a staff in his left hand which flashed to life with an unknown power.
"And who are you?" Greyskull muttered, not at all impressed.
The Drakon continued to grin. "Den-Izen. Emperor of the Drakon Empire." Den- Izen said. "Don't worry about telling me who you are, I really don't care. Now, I'll ask you again, will you surrender?"
The Echidna stood there silently, just staring at the Drakon in front of them. A strong wind suddenly hit the battle area hard, kicking up sand.
"I'll take that as a no, then." The Emperor said.
The Echidna got ready to fight, but then the wind unexpectedly became stronger. A mini sandstorm kicked up right inbetween the Drakon and the Echidna. It twirled itself into a mini tornado.
Both races stared in complete amazement. Then there was an implode of sound as something formed within the freak weather show in front of them.
There was a loud roar as the tornado exploded outwards, throwing sand everywhere. Everyone shielded their eyes from the sand, and then slowly turned back around to see a huge creature built entirely up out of water.
Chaos, God of Destruction, ascended to his full height and stared down on the surrounding Drakon and Echidna.
"I am Chaos, God of Destruction." Chaos said. "You will all bow to me or die."
The Echidna looked at each other, and then as one person attacked Chaos.
The Drakon Emperor, staring up at the Chaos creature, gritted his teeth. "I bow to no one." He muttered to himself. "Attack!"
* * * *
A white doorway floated in mid air. Giser, loyal
scientist of the Echidna, stood in front of it.
The doorway lead to another dimension. A place that he himself had discovered. It had been used as a prison by the Echidna before. They had banished many evil Echidna to this eternal, and timeless, prison many times over the centuries.
Giser couldn't help but wonder if this would be the last time the Echidna ever used it.
Giser grabbed the Echidna known as Midnight by the throat and held him in front of the white doorway. "You are a threat to this world, Midnight." Giser said. "A threat that must go."
Midnight swung an arm in an attempt to get Giser to let go. "You can't do this to me." Midnight said, trying to distance himself from the white doorway.
Midnight lashed out again, but this time his hand smacked Giser around the face. Giser, however, did not drop the Echidna. "Goodbye, Midnight." He said and flung the black furred Echidna threw the doorway.
Midnight's screams filled the room, before fading to nothing. Giser then raised a hand and the doorway closed. He then turned to face the bed that held King Pochamac.
"How is he doing?" Giser said to the person who stood by his bed.
"He's stable now." Devil of the Fallen said. "But he's lost a lot of blood. His body is too old and weak to do anything about it."
Giser walked up to the other side of the bed and looked down on the sleeping Echidna King. "Can you do anything to help?"
"I cannot. My powers are great, but I can't heal, you know that." Devil muttered.
Giser looked up at Devil. "If he can hold on for a while, maybe we could find a way to help him."
Devil shook his head. He looked up at Giser. "He's not going to make it, Giser. He's dying and there's nothing we can do about it."
* * * *
Yin Star Ophir held the Blue Chaos Emerald up to the light, as it glowed dimly. Putting it back together hadn't proved to much of a problem. The same could also be said for the Master Emerald.
Knuckles examined the small, green shard in his hand. Yin, who was holding the Blue Emerald in her hands, looked at him and smiled.
"The final piece." She said to him.
Knuckles smiled back as he stood up and regarded the nearly complete Master Emerald, which was covered in a matrix of cracks.
The scarlet red Echidna slipped the emerald shard into the whole at the top of the Master Emerald, stood back, and waited.
For a moment or so, nothing happened.
Then the Master Emerald began to glow a brilliant green once again. The radiance became steadily brighter, before it faded back to its usual eerie glow.
Knuckles examined the large, green gem. It was a little smaller than had been before, but apart from that it was perfect. There were no chips, and no cracks marred the surface. The Master Emerald was healed and whole once more.
Yin stood up, holding the Blue Chaos Emerald in her hands. "We had better get these to Giser."
Knuckles nodded, but did not respond. It wasn't getting the Emeralds to where they needed to go that Knuckles was thinking about. It was his injured grandfather. He wished hard that he was okay.
Hauling the Master Emerald onto his back, Knuckles set off into the Zoom Tubes, Yin following close behind.
Chaos reached out a hand and two Chaos Emeralds flew to him.
Chaos stared at the Echidna as he raised his hands and the two Chaos Emeralds begun to float just above his palms. The God of Destruction roared as the power of the two Chaos Emeralds was absorbed into his system. The emeralds sparked to life and began to glow brighter than before. Then, as Chaos drained them of there power, they began to shrink until there was nothing left.
Chaos threw his head back as the new energy flowed into him, lifting him off the ground. He clenched his hands into tight fists and roared once again.
He begun to grin as he fell back to the ground. The power was incredible. He could've never imagined that it would make him this strong. He understood now. He understood why the Drakon had turned on him when he had transformed him into his spawn.
With power like this there was nothing that you could not do. With power like this you could rule the universe.
Chaos turned and stared at the remaining Chaos Emeralds greedily. They were on the floor, scattered and damaged. He had to absorb them before their power was lost to him. He wanted all the power of the Chaos Emeralds for himself.
Chaos turned to the nearest Chaos Emerald, in order to absorb it, but was suddenly consumed by pain. He began to glow a bright blue, as the true power of the Chaos Emeralds kicked in. His transformation was far from over.
Pochamac stepped back as he watched the God of Destruction begin to grow. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew that the end result wasn't going to be pleasant.
Chaos once again threw his head back, but this time he screamed in agony. He raised his hands and clenched his head as he was engulfed by agonizing pain.
Then, suddenly, he was hoisted into the air, as he screamed in pain. Energy then exploded out of him in an expanding circle of destruction.
The Echidna were thrown backwards as the chaos energy erupted out of Chaos, tearing through Emerald Chamber's floor, and proceeded right on towards the Chaos Emeralds.
Chaos opened his eyes, as the power of the two Chaos Emeralds suddenly settled within him. He then laughed as he had increased in size. He became broader. Stronger. More powerful than before.
There was and implode of sound as all the raw Chaos Energy was sucked back towards the God of Destruction as he opened his new mouth and breathed it in.
* * * *
Prince Brightstarr turned to see Echidna cheering all around him. After the blast had taken out most of the Drakon Army they had quickly taken the upper hand.
The Dragon's still buzzed about the skies, but even some of them had been taken down by the Echidna. Dragon-slaying was something all Echidna were taught from birth. The rest of the Dragon's were just circling in the air as if they were unsure on what to do next.
Brightstarr suddenly looked up towards the sky. He could sense something. Something other than what was going on here on the battlefield. It was far off, but it ringed in his head like bells. And it was evil.
Whatever it was it would have to wait as there was a shout from behind him. He turned to see what the Echidna were shouting about and sighed as he saw more Drakon.
"Give me a break." Brightstarr muttered. "They just keep coming."
"That would be thanks to the Mobius Ring." Imarac said, coming up beside him. "We've got to destroy it."
Brightstarr nodded in response as he looked around at the fallen Drakon.
"Destruction of the Mobius Ring would cause a fatal energy discharge." Came the robotic voice of Guardian as he piloted Robot over towards the Prince.
"Fatal?" Brightstarr said.
"Affirmative." Robot said.
"Just how fatal, Guardian?" Imarac asked.
"The destruction of the Mobius Ring would in turn cause a chain reaction as it's dimensional doorway is broken." Guardian said. "With its link to Mobius severed the Mobius Ring would either implode, causing all within a radius of half a mile to be sucked into non-existence. Or explode outwards destroying everything around with blast of epic proportions."
Brightstarr sighed. "Sounds like fun." He said weakly. "I'll take out the Mobius Ring. You guys cover me."
"But Brightstarr-?" Imarac begun.
"Imarac, I know what your going to say." He said, glancing sidelong at him. "But it will not hinder my discussion. The Mobius Ring must be eliminated, and I'm the only one here who can do it."
"And do you know what I'm going to say as well, Brightstarr?" Came a voice from behind.
Brightstarr recognized the voice immediately. He slowly turned to the cat known as Mau-Evig, who was also his closet friend.
"You can't do this." She said. "You're die, and the Echidna Empire can't loose you."
"It's how it has to be, Mau." He replied simply.
Mau opened her mouth to argue but stopped as she stared behind Brightstarr. Her eyes widened as she stepped back. "D - Dra - Dragon!" She shouted.
Brightstarr turned to see a Dragon flapping its huge wings as it hovered above the ground for a while. Its body was enormous, bigger than a dinosaurs, and must've weighed more than 30 tons. It stared at the Echidna as it extended its legs and slowly flapped downwards. Landing with a thud.
Dragon's were probably the most powerful creatures on Mobius, beaten only by the Tantaragor. But whereas the Tantaragor had harnessed their many different powerful energies they had found, the Dragon's used magic.
It was magic that allowed them to fly as they did. Nothing in existence could possibly get airborne trying to carry that much weight, not with those wings even though they were huge enough.
Magic was what powered Dragon's. It was used by them to do a multitude of different things. One such thing was allowing them the power of speech.
"Echidna!" It roared, but the words didn't come out of its mouth. They arrived straight inside the head without even using the ears.
Brightstarr looked upwards. The other Dragon's were still circling uncertainly, but the Dragon that was now standing in front of them didn't look at all uncertain on what it was doing.
It reared its head back, gurgled fire in its throat until some spewed out, then threw its head back forward, blowing forth a stream of fire directly at the Echidna.
* * * *
Chaos walked across the Emerald Chamber to the Grey Chaos Emerald which finding it still intact, though a little cracked, on the floor. Bending forwards, he picked it up, returning to his new height as he straightened back up.
Chaos was taller now, thanks to the power of the Chaos Emeralds he had absorbed. He stood so tall he almost touched the Emerald Chamber's ceiling with the top of his head. His arms and legs had also increased in width. They were more muscular now. He looked as though he could tear his way through an army. He also had a mouth now. It was long and rimmed with teeth, somewhat like the mouth of a crocodile.
He held the Grey Chaos Emerald in his open hand and stared at it. He then closed his hand tight and crunched it inside his closed fist. Instantly there was a jolt of power as he absorbed the emeralds Chaos Energy. He grew a little more in size and width, grinning to himself as he did so.
He hunched over, as he was now to tall to do anything else, and stared around the room. His eyes still glowed green, though they were now smaller than how they had been. He turned to look at the Echidna as they begun to stir.
He was about the attack when he heard a small, but evil, snarl from behind him. He turned to see the shattered remains of the Blue and the Orange Chaos Emeralds. But it wasn't the Emerald Shards that his eyes were drawn to.
Standing amongst the shards were two creatures. One was lizard like in appearance, and had orange scaly skin. As he met its eye it snarled up at him, and then puffed out a ball of fire.
The second creature was still sitting amongst the blue shards of its emerald. It looked as though it was made entirely of ice. As it stood up it placed a hand on the ground to help its balance. It then reared up, and as it did so its ice arm snapped off. Almost instantly a new ice arm grew in its place.
It was then that Chaos noticed the Purple Chaos Emerald lying beside the ice creature.
The God of Destruction smiled to himself. These creatures must've been trapped within the Chaos Emeralds just like how he had been stuck within the Master Emerald.
If they came from the Chaos Emeralds then they must at least have some of the power from the Emerald. So they were still of use to him.
He walked over to the fire creature and grabbed it in one hand. He held it up to his face and stared at it for a long time.
The creature tried to blow fire at him, but he squeezed it tighter before it could take a breath. He then opened his mouth and swallowed the creature whole.
Noticing the Yellow Emerald Shards still on the ground he hung his hand over them. And just as paper clips would rise if a magnet was held over them , so to did the Yellow Emerald Shards. They sunk into his hand as soon as they made contact, adding to his power.
He turned and looked at the Purple Chaos Emerald, bent forward and picked it up, crushing it in his hand just as he did to the Grey Emerald. As he grew a little more in size, he looked down on the ice creature, but it wasn't looking up at him. It was staring in front of it.
Chaos turned around to see that the Echidna had woken up.
"By the Gods!" Pochamac said, staring up at the awesome creature Chaos had become. "Chaos?"
"Bow to me, Echidna." The God of Destruction said, turning to fully to face the Echidna. "Bow to me now, proclaim me as your God, and I will spare you."
Pochamac held his spear a little tighter. By his side Yin stepped backwards, while Knuckles raised his fists ready to fight.
"You are no God, Chaos." Pochamac said. "You may claim to be one, but we know the truth. Your just a power hungry monster."
"You will not bow to me?" Chaos asked.
"Go to Hell." Knuckles said. "Is that clear enough for you?"
The God of Destruction stepped forwards. As he did so his hunched body scrapped along the ceiling. "Fools! Do you not see what I have become?"
Knuckles didn't respond, instead he charged at Chaos, ready to attack him. Launching himself into the air, Knuckles clenched a fist ready to punch the God of Destruction as hard as he could, but was suddenly grabbed by one of Chaos' big hands.
Chaos slammed Knuckles into the floor twice before tossing him behind him. He didn't even turn to watch Knuckles as he hit the floor with a thud.
Pochamac raised his hand up to Chaos, it begun to glow green. "You cannot win, Chaos. As I know your weakness."
With that the green sparks that were flickering all around the King's hand shot out in a powerful green beam, which hit Chaos square in the chest.
"Heat!" Pochamac muttered.
Yin Star Ophir smiled. "Of course. His body is made up of water, so naturally heat would harm him."
"Not harm him enough." Came the voice of Giser, as he came up beside them, dragging the still unconscious Midnight.
"Giser is right." Pochamac admitted, as Chaos screamed in pain. "This will only defeat him temporarily. But it will give us the time we need to access the situation."
Braven Rain raised his hands and also shot stream of fire at Chaos also. As his fire connected, Chaos reeled back in pain.
There was a sudden small bang as Chaos exploded into a cloud of steam. His scream's could still be heard as the steam swirled around, trying to regroup and regain its old form. But it couldn't as Pochamac continued to fire into it.
Then the cloud of steam suddenly rushed at Pochamac, taking him off his feet and dropping him just behind Giser. The steam continued on this trajectory and went out through the Zoom Tubes.
Giser turned and hissed. "Blast!" He said. "He's escaped into the Zoom Tubes. He could end up anywhere on the Island."
"We've got to warn the others." Braven said staring at the Zoom Tubes. "He could head for them."
"Why do you believe that he'll do that?" Giser asked.
"Because of my brother." Said Knuckles.
Giser and Yin turned to see Knuckles on his hands and knees. "Your brother?" Giser muttered.
"My brother is probably the strongest Echidna alive, Giser. You know this as much as me, and its thanks to the Chaos Energy that flows through his veins." Knuckles said, rubbing his head. "His power is probably calling out to Chaos like a beacon, just as the Chaos Emeralds did. He'll head for Brightstarr, and he'll attack everyone that gets in his way."
Yin's eyes widened, suddenly becoming urgent. "We have to try and help them." She said turning around. "We have to-! Oh my God!"
Tears begun to roll down Yin's face as she ran to Pochamac's side. Pochamac lay on the ground, where the steam form of Chaos had dropped him. But he had landed badly, on a sharp shard of rock that must have been ripped up when Chaos had transformed.
Yin kneeled down beside the injured King. "He's in pain." She said through the tears. "He's hurt bad, Giser."
Giser came over to see a thin piece of rock extending out of the Echidna King's side. He knelt down beside the old Echidna and assessed the damage.
"The wound is bad." He said. "This is going to hurt a little, your majesty." With that he reached behind Pochamac and snapped the rock just where it entered the King.
Pochamac coughed and gritted his teeth in pain. He opened his mouth to speak, but was hushed by Giser.
"Do not try to speak, Milord." Giser said, lifting the King up in his arms. Giser then looked at Yin. "I will take him back to the Palace and treat him there, Braven will accompany me. I want you-!"
"I'm coming to." Yin said, staring at Pochamac. "You'll need all the protection you can get and-!"
"No. You must stay here with Knuckles and rebuild the Master Emerald. All the shards are there, so it shouldn't prove to difficult." Giser said.
"But I-!" Yin begun.
"I will not tell you again." Giser said sternly. He then sighed as she begun to cry again. "The King will be okay. I will take care of him as best I can. Now do what I have asked of you, and then bring the Master Emerald to me in the Palace."
Yin nodded, as Giser stood looking at her.
"Braven." He said, turning around. "Bring Midnight." He then walked out of the Emerald Chamber and into the Zoom Tube system. Braven pulled the still unconscious Midnight over his shoulder and followed him out.
As Giser and Braven disappeared into the darkness Yin turned to Knuckles who had got up and was making his way over to them.
Yin raised a hand which begun to glow, then all the shards of the Master Emerald floated over to her. Blue shards also floated over. Yin grabbed one at random.
"These are not shards of the Master Emerald." Yin said.
"No. They are not." Knuckles said, grabbing one for himself. "It must have been another Chaos Emerald. Chaos must have destroyed it by accident, which means that he doesn't have the power of two Emeralds."
"If we rebuild these Emeralds, what's to say he won't come back for them?" Yin said, gazing at the Blue Chaos Emerald.
Knuckles sighed. "He can come, but hopefully we won't be here. Besides, my brother will keep him busy for a long time." He said, he then put another shard in place, holding it steady with his free hand.
Yin slipped some blue shards together and sighed. She couldn't help but think of Pochamac. As she rebuilt the Blue Chaos Emerald a silent tear rolled down her cheek.
Unseen to either of them, in the darkness of the Emerald Chamber, something watched them. Very slowly the ground around it begun to freeze as it tried to hide a little further in the shadows.
* * * *
The Echidna Army scattered, diving and dodging out of the way of the Dragon's fiery breath with ease, though some where a little seared by the heat.
Brightstarr stood next to Mau, who lowered her hand and her magical force field disappeared. Mau and Brightstarr just stared at the Dragon.
The Dragon made a sound deep in its throat and seemed to grin at them both. "Cats helping Echidna." Its voice arrived in their heads again. "Echidna helping Cats. It makes no difference, you will all die." The Dragon stepped forward, and opened its mouth to reveal its teeth. "I'll eat you both, and chew on your bones." It said.
"Not bloody likely." Imarac's said, as he walked up to Brightstarr's side. "Attack!" He shouted.
The Echidna charged at the Dragon, taking it completely by surprise. By the time it realized what was what it was swarmed by Echidna attacking it from every side.
The Echidna dodged the snapping of the Dragon, as Greyskull unsheathed his sword. The Echidna at the back of the Dragon stuck their spears into it, causing it to rear up in pain, exposing its belly.
In one clean slash, Greyskull brought his sword across the Dragon's neck.
Blood dropped to the floor as he sheathed his sword and the Dragon's disembodied head fell to the floor in front of him.
Brightstarr grinned at Greyskull, ignoring the squirms of Mau. Greyskull was grim, and maybe a bit over the top, but he was the best at what he did.
"Prince Brightstarr!" Shouted someone from the new arriving Drakon forces.
Brightstarr turned back to see who was talking, only to see that it was Zachary. Suddenly his eyes glowed red with anger. "Zachary!" He growled.
"I see you haven't forgotten me, Prince Brightstarr." Zachary said from within his Guardian Robot.
"You sold us out, Zachary." Imarac shouted. "Your own people."
Dr Zachary sighed. "I told you before, Imarac. I have no peop-!"
"Shut it, Zachary. Just shut it." Imarac said.
Zachary smiled. "Well, I'd love to chat all day but I am here to ask you if you will surrender now while you still have the chance."
"Surrender!" Greyskull said. "We outnumber your new fish-headed friends easily. If you continue this we will be the only ones walking away from here."
"You Echidna scum are very imaginative, I'll grant you that." Came a voice from the Drakon crowd. Very slowly the Drakon moved out of the way as another Drakon walked to the front and stared down on the Drakon. "It will be such a shame to kill you all. You'd make wonderful slaves." The Drakon said, grinning.
The Drakon was just a little bigger than the other Drakon, but looked nothing like the Prosecutors and the Sentinels. His robotic body, coated in a deep and rich chrome purple armor, was slender and masculine. It looked as though it could hold its own in a battle. He held a staff in his left hand which flashed to life with an unknown power.
"And who are you?" Greyskull muttered, not at all impressed.
The Drakon continued to grin. "Den-Izen. Emperor of the Drakon Empire." Den- Izen said. "Don't worry about telling me who you are, I really don't care. Now, I'll ask you again, will you surrender?"
The Echidna stood there silently, just staring at the Drakon in front of them. A strong wind suddenly hit the battle area hard, kicking up sand.
"I'll take that as a no, then." The Emperor said.
The Echidna got ready to fight, but then the wind unexpectedly became stronger. A mini sandstorm kicked up right inbetween the Drakon and the Echidna. It twirled itself into a mini tornado.
Both races stared in complete amazement. Then there was an implode of sound as something formed within the freak weather show in front of them.
There was a loud roar as the tornado exploded outwards, throwing sand everywhere. Everyone shielded their eyes from the sand, and then slowly turned back around to see a huge creature built entirely up out of water.
Chaos, God of Destruction, ascended to his full height and stared down on the surrounding Drakon and Echidna.
"I am Chaos, God of Destruction." Chaos said. "You will all bow to me or die."
The Echidna looked at each other, and then as one person attacked Chaos.
The Drakon Emperor, staring up at the Chaos creature, gritted his teeth. "I bow to no one." He muttered to himself. "Attack!"
* * * *
A white doorway floated in mid air. Giser, loyal
scientist of the Echidna, stood in front of it.
The doorway lead to another dimension. A place that he himself had discovered. It had been used as a prison by the Echidna before. They had banished many evil Echidna to this eternal, and timeless, prison many times over the centuries.
Giser couldn't help but wonder if this would be the last time the Echidna ever used it.
Giser grabbed the Echidna known as Midnight by the throat and held him in front of the white doorway. "You are a threat to this world, Midnight." Giser said. "A threat that must go."
Midnight swung an arm in an attempt to get Giser to let go. "You can't do this to me." Midnight said, trying to distance himself from the white doorway.
Midnight lashed out again, but this time his hand smacked Giser around the face. Giser, however, did not drop the Echidna. "Goodbye, Midnight." He said and flung the black furred Echidna threw the doorway.
Midnight's screams filled the room, before fading to nothing. Giser then raised a hand and the doorway closed. He then turned to face the bed that held King Pochamac.
"How is he doing?" Giser said to the person who stood by his bed.
"He's stable now." Devil of the Fallen said. "But he's lost a lot of blood. His body is too old and weak to do anything about it."
Giser walked up to the other side of the bed and looked down on the sleeping Echidna King. "Can you do anything to help?"
"I cannot. My powers are great, but I can't heal, you know that." Devil muttered.
Giser looked up at Devil. "If he can hold on for a while, maybe we could find a way to help him."
Devil shook his head. He looked up at Giser. "He's not going to make it, Giser. He's dying and there's nothing we can do about it."
* * * *
Yin Star Ophir held the Blue Chaos Emerald up to the light, as it glowed dimly. Putting it back together hadn't proved to much of a problem. The same could also be said for the Master Emerald.
Knuckles examined the small, green shard in his hand. Yin, who was holding the Blue Emerald in her hands, looked at him and smiled.
"The final piece." She said to him.
Knuckles smiled back as he stood up and regarded the nearly complete Master Emerald, which was covered in a matrix of cracks.
The scarlet red Echidna slipped the emerald shard into the whole at the top of the Master Emerald, stood back, and waited.
For a moment or so, nothing happened.
Then the Master Emerald began to glow a brilliant green once again. The radiance became steadily brighter, before it faded back to its usual eerie glow.
Knuckles examined the large, green gem. It was a little smaller than had been before, but apart from that it was perfect. There were no chips, and no cracks marred the surface. The Master Emerald was healed and whole once more.
Yin stood up, holding the Blue Chaos Emerald in her hands. "We had better get these to Giser."
Knuckles nodded, but did not respond. It wasn't getting the Emeralds to where they needed to go that Knuckles was thinking about. It was his injured grandfather. He wished hard that he was okay.
Hauling the Master Emerald onto his back, Knuckles set off into the Zoom Tubes, Yin following close behind.